Arsenal

A clean sheet, a good performance or a wasted opportunity?

Arsene says: “We have shown drive – 90 minutes of quality. We have show maturity.”

It’s hard to describe, I’m a little disappointed we didn’t score, but I felt that we had a good game, controlled the game, were the dominant force.

It was a cagey start by boths side, with Milan having the better of the first 15 mins, but as the game grew, so did we. Flamini was outstanding and our overall play was quick, collective and precise.

But we couldn’t score, we tried, we had shots, but they were all at the keeper…

We lost Toure after 10 mins to a hamstring injury, but his replacement Senderos played admirely.

We played well in the first half, with Eduaro, Fabregas, Adebayor and Flamini all had chances but it was 0-0 in the first half. In the second half, we came out guns blazing, played really well but didn’t really have any clear cut chances.

But… with 30 seconds to go, Walcott, on a substitute, dazzled the left back and sent a cross to the far post. Who was there? Adebayor, no keeper, open goal. Hit the bar! We could have won it… and he looked embarrassed.

The Squad

First XI

Jens Lehmann (GK)
Lehmann retains his place after Almunia failed to recover from flu and then a stomach bug.
We all hope Lehmann can have a performance that we know he can and why he was brought to the club!

Bacary Sagna (RB)
Sagna is back and will bring steel and stregth to the back four as well as a good attacking option.

William Gallas (CB)
Gallas will captain the side and after his shaky performance on Saturday, we hope he gives us a captain’s performance.

Kolo Toure (CB)
Toure is back from African Nations duty, back from a re-introduction to the premier league up north!
Kolo is a player who can win this game for us.

Gael Clichy
Clichy also returns to the side and has recovered from his “musclar” injury. He will add both defensive and attacking steel to the left hand side.

Emmanuel Eboue (RM)
Eboue has got the nod ahead of a returning Walcott. Without RVP and Rosicky, we have no other option… if you remember Eboue against Man U at the Emirates last season, we know Eboue can contribute!

Mathieu Flamini (DM)
Flamini has been in great form this season and hopefully will have another top notch performance.
Flamini on Gattuso: I don’t want sound disrespectful to the guy because he’s amazing but I think I’m a different player to him. I’m more attacking. We try and play a little more football. And, anyway, I want to make my own name in the football world.

Cesc Fabregas (CM)
This boy is the heartbeat of our team… when he’s on form, so are we. Cesc vs Kaka, an awesome dual.
Cesc on Milan: When you play against Milan, you don’t need extra motivation. We have to come back and be stronger than ever

Eduardo (CF)
Our little gem, no one’s talking about him, no one’s mentioned his name. But he can finish, has pace and could be our “secret weapon” tonight…

The Bench

The is confirmed as:
Fabianski – he’s had his good games and his bad, he is unlikely to be needed (I hope)
Senderos – has come back to form of late
Bendtner – not really shown or had many chances since his winner at the Emirates against Sp*rs.
Gilberto – starting to gain some match pratice,
Walcott – 80% fit but could be an important cameo
Denilson – Returns to the side, unlikely to play
Hoyte – Keeps his place in the 16, unlikely to feature.

I mean the professional performance and eventual 2-0 win against a woeful Milan side...

I'd like to see the game stay as 11 versus 11, I'd like to see Kaka versus Fabregas. I'd like to see Adebayor skip past a Nesta or Maldini... it's going to be an exciting day tomorrow.... come on you reds!]]>

I’ve had a high number of hits on this page today - this blog entry is from the first leg – if you’re looking for today’s game (second leg on 4th March 2008) click here.

Yesterday, I previewed the Arsenal vs AC Milan game – it was an early preview. A lot could have happened and I did assume a lot, but it looks like my assumptions all came true! That never happens.

Well, actually I was not that right… this morning I heard that Almunia had recovered and was ready to play, but on a news release on Arsenal.com, Arsene said;

“Manuel Almunia is not completely ready to play. But he is getting there and is very close now. Jens Lehmann will start.”

In other injury news, also confirmed are the returns to the squad and first XI of Gael Clichy, Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor and Bacary Sagna. Additionally, Walcott and Denilson have been added to the squad, although not 100% fit. Arsene says the battle has to be won in the midfield and has also moved to praise Gilberto recently, who may be regaining some sort of match fitness. Cesc Fabregas believes the experienced Milan midfield can “kill you in a minute” if you are not careful. He goes on to say:

“Yes they’ve been playing a long time together, and have more experience than us,” he said. “But we have quality and we really want to do it. That’s very important at the same time.”We have to be careful because of the experience they have. They can kill us in a minute.”I really like Pirlo to be honest. He’s a great player, very intelligent and a great passer of a ball. He’s always looking at the best solution. There’s also Kaka, who had a great year last year, and we’ll have to be careful of him.

“They have many strengths not just those two. They have players who work hard for the team and they’re one of the best midfields in Europe.

“But we’ve been meeting clubs like Milan in recent years – Juventus, Real Madrid – and we know we can do it. However we’ll have to be at our best.”

And it looks like Eboue has had a little knock, so it’s a change to our somewhat unfavoured 4-5-1 formation.

So here’s the revised line up:

Lehmann
Goalkeeper

Sagna
Right Back

Gallas
Centre Back

Toure
Centre Back

Clichy
Left Back

Gilberto
Defensive Midfielder

Flamini
Defensive Midfielder

Fabregas
Attacking Midfielder

Hleb
Right Wing

Eduardo
Left Wing

Adebayor
Stiker

An interesting news story too, as Capello gets in on the act…

Fabio Capello gives Arsenal a glowing report…

“I believe that Arsenal are one of the very top teams in Europe. They combine great quality with great speed and will be very different from the team beaten at Old Trafford.“Manchester United prevented Cesc Fàbregas from having any effect, which was a key factor in their dominance, but Emmanuel Adebayor, Mathieu Flamini and Gaël Clichy will be back against AC Milan. Adebayor is on extraordinary form, but the whole team play great football.“Both Arsenal and AC Milan have developed a very technical game, centered on possession and team organisation. I know Milan can rise to the challenge in crucial matches, but this is a very difficult moment to face Arsenal. They defend with ten men and attack with six. They are a very organised side, full of talented players. If you leave them any space, they counterattack with four or five players at such pace that the opposition cannot figure out what is hitting them.

“AC Milan can count on their huge experience and always give their best, but to have a chance against Arsenal they will have to be in top physical condition. They will need players, like Kaká, [Alexander] Pato and Clarence Seedorf in their best form. A strong midfield is important so Andrea Pirlo is a must.”

Yes, defeat hurts, but my perpective on this game is “let’s not get carried away!”.
Yes, 9000 travelling fans were ultimately the one’s that suffered, but at the end of the day, we didn’t show up, didn’t want the game, didn’t want a replay and the players knew that. They didn’t turn up and simply didn’t want to be there.

Milan on Wednesday and then 12 very important games in the league and we’ve got the prize we all wanted.

As Match of the Day said on Saturday night… if Adebayour, Flamini, Senderos & Clichy were really injured, would they be on the bench and would they play 30 mins… I don’t think so – it was a clear case of “we’re going for the league, you have the cup”.

Now, an interesting article by The Gooner Forum “Blog” (http://thegoonerforum.wordpress.com/) comments on how overrated we are and our squad are, but I disagree. The article goes on to say how our squad players are just not good enough, but I think there’s one point that is missing in that argument.

We’ve had injury galore this season, our “fringe” players are all injured and so are half our first team. Our first XI yesterday couldn’t include over half our squad, such as Denilson, Diaby, Rosicky, Van Persie, Almunia, Wallcott, Adebayor, Clichy, Sagna, Senderos, Flamini to name just a few… even Lansbury was injured… on top of that Cesc had flu, Toure & Eboue were unfit and not 100% either…!!

If we had all of those players at 100% then it would have been a different story!
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